


Jumping for Fun and Adventure, Jump 1: Pokemon Trainer

by Pokemonever1994



Series: My Jump Chain [2]
Category: Jump Chain (4chan), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: First Jump, Jump Chain, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 12:54:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20507330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pokemonever1994/pseuds/Pokemonever1994
Summary: Here is the story I spoke of before, staring myself :DFor information on the specifics and changes to the Jump Chain in general, please refer to the first part of this story as both the character's CYOA choices and notes on the Chain itself are posted there.





	1. Chapter 1: Dumb Accident

It had been a fine day in Newbark Town.

The Pidgey were singing, the Sunflora were blooming, and within one of the houses of the town, a visitor was awakening.

“Ugh, what was I doing yesterday?” Muttered the girl who lay on the second floor of the house in her bed. Red, short hair was paired with a pair of orange eyes which wouldn’t look out of place here. Her body was rather athletic, nothing unusual for someone who grew up in a world like this, and over a nearby chair hung a small assortment of clothes along with a hat, all ready to be worn.

Not far from her, still sleeping, lay a small black-and-tan Pokemon with a long snout and red dots along it’s back. This Pokemon was the well-known Fire Pokemon Cyndaquill, a rather popular starter Pokemon in the Johto region. It was sleeping in a small bed on the ground while on the table nearby lay it’s Pokeball along with a bag, Pokedex and Pokegear.

Sitting up, the girl yawned, her sleeveless shirt and light blanket rustling due to the movement. “Huh?” She muttered, when her eyes opened and she noticed something strange. “Wait, that’s not my room, no what- Agh! My head!” She groaned, feeling the pain as memories were clashing inside her head, and they were clashing hard too.

“Cyn?” Cue the Cyndaquil ask as his trainer tried to rub her migraine away.

“Ah, it’s fine, I just, need a moment.” Said trainer told her Starter, who cocked his head to the side but nodded, accepting the explanation. As he went over to the bowl of Pokemon Food that had been left there for him the day before, his trainer took a deep breath, looking at herself.

//Okay, let’s summarize. Yesterday I found a weird, interactive Jump Chain Manager and chose the Pokemon Trainer Jump Chain. I filled it out, chose all sorts of settings, and then pressed save. And now I’m here. Ruby Barnes, Newbark Town resident, soon to be Pokemon Trainer, 10 years old. Damn, there go 14 years of age.// She thought with a frown, standing up to look at herself in a nearby mirror, perhaps the girliest thing in the room so far.

She had red, short hair, orange eyes and was, quite frankly, flat. Though some buds were visible on her chest, they were just from baby fat that had gathered there. Nothing that could be construed into breasts. //Well, I guess the image I loaded up as a ref image did work out.// Thought Ruby, picking up the black t-shirt and beginning to change into her clothes.

//Should’ve seen this coming, getting a link sent to my email address when I was thinking about writing a Jump Chain story should’ve set off some alarms, especially from an unknown address no less. But then again, I’m in Pokemon now, I can actually live through a journey and who says I can’t travel more than one region in the next… ten years I guess? Man, that’s gonna take a while.// Thought Ruby while putting on the sleeveless, red hoody with the black center stripe on.

This was followed by a pair of black latex shorts and a, purely for looks, red skirt over them. She then put on a pair of black, over-knee long socks and red sneakers on before picking up the hat which she couldn’t quite agree if it was black with red sides or red with a black center stripe. In any case, the pokeball symbol on it basically was, in her mind, the front of the hat.

Picking up the last piece of clothing, the bag that was basically a hip pouch and doubled as her belt, she sat down to go through it. //Okay, let’s see. Pokegear, check. 6 Masterballs, yup. Five Pokeballs and three potions, found. Pokedex, definitely, a case of Hms, aka the HM Collection, with all of the HM? Yeah, got it. Parachute mode? Yeah. Rebeather and Rapelling Gear? Present. Wallet of 100 thousand Pokedollars? Yeah, that’s pretty much all.// Thought Ruby, after having picked out all the items she had purchased while filling out the form.

“Well, looks like I’ve got everything.” Muttered Ruby, putting the pouch around her waist before also stuffing the Growlithe Bed, which was fireproof and a dog bed basically, but was purchased for Cyndaquil, into the bag before going through the drawers of her room to put clothes and whatever items she could use later into the bag too.

After finishing that, three more sets of clothes, underwear, some basic toiletries, ten boxes of general Pokemon Food, and a Pikachu plushie she had gotten two years ago for her birthday, and finally a case for badges that was, naturally, empty, Ruby was finished with her last-minute preparations.

“Come on Cyndaquil, let’s get going.” Said Ruby to her partner. //Strange I adjust like this, I was a 24 years old man and now I’m a girl, and back to 10 years old. Shouldn’t there be more of a disconnect or something considering I just woke up? Or is that because of her memories?// Wondered Ruby as she recalled Cyndaquil after his confirmatory call.

Packing up his bowl, along with a number of other ones that she had purchased in the prior weeks in preparation for her team, she went out of her room.

The house was quite a bit larger than the one of Gold in the games, for starters her room didn’t go straight into the staircase but instead to a small hallway. There were three more doors, one to her parents room, a second to a guest and the final one to her younger siblings, which were twins. Tim and Jean.

Going to the staircase down the hallway she descended into the living room which had a coffee table with sitting cushions, five in total, a large TV screen in a corner and three doors leading out other than the main door of the house and not counting the backside exit. The one to the West, with the main door leading South, led to the nice and large kitchen of the house where she could smell and hear her mother prepare food.

The doors to the East, opposite the kitchen, hid the two bathrooms, one being the main bathroom with bathtub and shower, it was fairly large too with a number of sinks, the other leading to a guest bathroom with a toilet, sink and a shower corner. It was comparatively small but enough either way.

The kitchen had the backyard’s door in it where the family’s Pokemon mostly stayed. Those included, among others, her mother’s Guardevoir and Meganium, her father’s Machamp and Thyplosion, and finally the small cluster of eggs and baby Pokemon that they… produced. Like her, the twins already had two Pokemon they took care off until they could gain their license in a year, namely a Chicorita and a Ralts respectively. You can guess who the parents are.

“Hi Ruby!” Shouted at that point Tim as he stormed past her, Jean on his heels only for him to slam the door in front of her before she could enter the bathroom.

“Damn it Tim! Let me in! You take forever!” Screamed Jean as she pounded onto the door in anger, ironically she wasn’t wrong.

Ruby shook her head, it was odd enough to have fraternal twins for younger siblings, but even weirder that they were just one year younger than her. //I guess I’m lucky I can actually remember this life’s, well, life. Or else I would be awkward as hell here.// She thought, shaking her head at the idea as she watched the two children argue through the door, up until a loud, farting noise come from the door and a comical stink cloud was visible.

“Ugh, Tim! Seriously hold back a bit!” Shouted Ruby, a bit irritated. //Seriously now, am- I mean, was I this wrong in the other world too? I’m pretty sure I didn’t stink like a rancid Muk.// She thought, scrunching up her nose at the smell as Hana, Jean’s Chicorita, tried to play air freshener for them. Didn’t help sadly, this may be enough to load up a Shaymin for one shot.

Ruby went to the kitchen, finding her mother there. “Hey mom, how’s breakfast going?” Asked Ruby, going with the flow that felt, somehow, natural. //It’s weird how I can just adjust to this new life. But better than being all suspicious I guess. Imagine if I didn’t have those new memories.// Thought Ruby, not for the first time wondering how much of this was still the old her or the new one talking.

“It’s going well dear. Ready for your journey?” Asked Ruby’s mother, smiling. Janett Barnes was a woman in her late 30s with red hair like her children and orange eyes. Outside of being a housewife she worked in a cafe not far from their home while Ruby’s father worked overseas in Unova and Ruby hadn’t seen him in years to be honest. It wasn’t bothering Ruby to be honest, her other life had a father who abandoned his family after all.

“Sure am, though I don’t have any food for myself yet.” She noted with a chuckle, knowing that she would need it since this wasn’t the game universe.

“No problem dear, but first time for breakfast. We even still got some cake leftover from yesterday, so you can have some if you want.” Stated Ruby’s mom before turning back to the scrambled eggs with bacon she was making.

//Oh yeah, birthday yesterday, right. Flexible starting times thanks to family-bred Pokemon for the win I guess.// Thought Ruby, just a bit amused at that. //I guess my run here ends one day after my 20th birthday then, huh? Well, at least that’s settled, as long as I don’t muck up Arceus and the Jewel of Life.// Thought Ruby, going to the fridge to retrieve the cake and cut off a piece for herself.

Walking to the living room table she sat down, watching with some amusement as Jean continued banging on the door to get in and take a bath. “He isn’t getting out any faster if you bang on the door, you know that?” Asked Ruby with some amusement as the younger girl let out a scream of frustration.

Another few minutes passed with Ruby having breakfast with her family before she set out, the typical “Why can’t I/we go already too?!” complains from any younger sibling was naturally voiced but regulations and stuff. Ruby was almost afraid of the mayhem they may cause to poor Team Rocket, those suckers didn’t deserve that sort of abuse after all. Unlike PETA. Or Team Cipher. But mostly PETA.

//Man, to think that an organization whose entire MO is to steal Pokemon and brainwash them into emotionless fighting machines is less deplorable than an “Animal Rights Movement” from Earth, that’s weird.// Thought Ruby, shaking her head at the thought of that comparison. It was ironic.

After the final goodbyes Ruby set out West, Route 28 wasn’t somewhere where she could travel yet after all, so to Route 29 it was.

Ruby begun her treck to the town’s western outlet, noting mentally that, yes, the town was quite a bit larger than in the games. This indicated that it was the Anime version, as it was still not that huge as it appeared in the Manga. //Well, no murderous Pokemon Battles I guess.// Thought Ruby with a sigh of relief. Better that way, Pokemon Battles were pretty save in the Anime after all.

“Ruby!” Her train of thought was interrupted by a loud voice. Turning in that direction Ruby realized that the one calling was Professor Elm, she had come pretty close to his lab without noticing actually. “Thank goodness I caught you before you left! Ethan already run out on me before the email even come and...” Elm’s rambling as he finally caught up to her made Ruby smile a bit. He was quite a chaotic man at times.

As for Ethan, he was the same character as from the Raikou special that never aired outside of Japan. She knew him due to being neighbors in this timeline and she knew that he had been given the lab Cyndaquil. One of two, to be fair but the other one had already been handed out before. Her own was naturally a homebreed and his litter siblings were those from the lab. Always nice to have a family of Pokemon Breeders around.

“Ah, professor? Could you calm down and just tell me what you wanted to ask?” Asked Ruby, trying to be polite even though, despite the amusement, she was a bit impatient at this point but she could guess from the mention of a email. Mister Pokemon’s side-quest, naturally. It seemed like Ethan had run out before it arrived.

“Ah, naturally. Sorry. Well, one of my acquaintances north of Cherrygrove City contacted me. He apparently found a Pokemon Egg he can’t identify himself and asked for me to help him out. However, me and my assistants can’t currently go and retrieve it so I was hoping you could go in our stead. You’re naturally going to be rewarded, mind you.” Assured the man Ruby who smiled, she had been right about the nature of the request.

“Alright, I’ll help out.” She agreed easily enough. She couldn’t remember details on Route 29 in the Anime, but the errand couldn’t be that bad.

“Thank you so much Ruby! You just need to retrieve the egg and bring it to a transporter in a Pokemon Center, there you can send it over. I can already think of a nice present in return, just have to get it ready.” Stated Elm, clearly pleased with his idea as Ruby nodded. She wasn’t sure what this would entail, as in the games Elm would simply send you on the errand after agreeing to help with his studies, and reward you later with the Pokemon Egg after beating Falkner in Violet City.

After getting a note from Elm to verify that she was sent by him, Ruby continued on her way, noting a red haired boy standing at a window of the lab. //Silver, I guess I’ll see him in Cherrygrove. And considering there was only one Totodile in the Anime, I guess it means Ash isn’t here yet.// Thought Ruby, deciding to not interfere for now. She knew Silver’s backstory somewhat based on the games, even if it was unlikely that the details from the Manga were correct.

Her eyes fell for a moment on the Pokemon Center, normally she would’ve registered there for the league, but he was already registered to participate since two days ago, so she passed the building and instead went all the way to the West where she come to the town’s Western exit. A sign at the exit read “A town where the wind blows and tells of impending change”.

//Heh, for me that is true.” Thought Ruby with a smile before setting out, Route 29 right in front of her.


	2. Route 29 isn't Meant to be this Big...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An oversight on Ruby's side, may be the cause of an unexpected encounter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry everyone who actually read this story's first chapter and was waiting for me to publish this new one. I got a bit too engrossed in mapping out my path through the Jumpchain, if you know what I mean, and didn't get done with the second chapter for that reason.  
However, I've realized that it makes little sense to make this stuff set in stone, therefor I'll wait with further planning until a later date.

##  _ Chapter 2: Route 29’s not meant to be that big… _

  


//Why is this route so long?// Thought Ruby in frustration, according to her Pokegear it had been close to five hours since she had entered the route.

She has tried finding her way across the route the old-fashioned way, using the normal route or looking for it, at least. She had gotten to the northern part of the route, yes. But the ledges were a bit hard to find and harder was it to find any paths leading up.

Sitting down at one of the trees scattered around the route Ruby sighed, rubbing at her temples. “I guess I should’ve expected this, I haven’t seen the Johto season of Pokemon for years, why did I expect this to be like back in the games?” Asked Ruby with a sigh as she took out her Pokegear to call up the map. “If nothing else, I’ll know how far it will… You serious?” Muttered Ruby in disbelieve, looking at the map.

The overview of the entire Johto region was still pretty much like in the games, showing a straight route from Newbark Town to Cherrygrove City. Things were different when she selected the route with the joystick and buttons of the Pokegear.

This brought up a more detailed local map which showed that she was on the northern edge of what was considered “Route 29” by the map, but not even an eighth of the way to Cherrygrove. And things didn’t get any better when she looked at the layout of the route, which saw much of the first half the route split diagonally from North-West to South-East by a large ravine with notes saying that the northern part was home to Heracross, Butterfree and many other Pokemon, and to avoid the southern part of the forest in question as Pinsir inhabited it.

“Now I remember, that’s the place where Ash gets his Heracross, right? Ugh, naturally I didn’t remember it happened right after Ash and his friends leave Newbark Town, hell, I can’t even recall most of the episodes, much less their order or where they took place this early in his journey.” Muttered Ruby, groaning on her own failure in the planning department.

“Well, it explains why the route takes so long, this thing isn’t just a small stretch like in the games, it’s a pretty large route, it connects Newbark Town with Cherrygrove City and they wouldn’t have built a town so close to a city. I guess that means all routes will be significantly longer than in the games. Joy.” With a sigh Ruby stood up at that point, using the Pokegear as reference where to go she set out, she still had a ways to go after all.

A few minutes into her new course, now heading along the directions of the Pokegear rather than going by faulty memory, Ruby heard rustling in the bushes.

After a moment of tension, a Pokemon come out, it wasn’t a Heracross though, she was pretty sure they were only so easy to spot in that episode because there were so few trees and Team Rocket evidently hadn’t started their scheme yet, not to mention that she was on the eastern border of their territory. No, what come out instead was a small, purple Pokemon that resembled a rat.

“Rattata, huh, that’s the tenth today.” Commented Ruby, letting out Cyndaquil who took one look at his opponent before igniting his back fire. Unlike the Cyndaquil of Ash, Ruby’s partner didn’t need to warm up before using fire-type moves. This come from hard training under her family after all. “Alright Cyndaquil, let’s get this done too. Ember.” Ordered Ruby, watching as her partner unleashed a stream of red fireballs at the Normal Type who yelped in pain as he was hit.

The Rattata sled to a stop a bit behind where he had been originally, pushed back by the small fire explosions created on impact, before growling and charging in a tackle at Cyndaquil.

“Smokescreen!” Commanded Ruby, her small mouse blasting the black smoke into the Rattata which ran in but didn’t hit. Cyndaquil knew that he should get out of dodge after launching smokescreen like this. “Tackle!” Declared Ruby and before the Rattata could brace itself Cyndaquil dashed into it, with all the force of his small form.

The Normal-type shot out of the cloud into a tree, sinking to the ground unconsciously. Ruby sighed seeing this, Cyndaquil running to her and onto her shoulder where she scratched him on the head with a smile. “Well done partner, just as practiced.” Stated Ruby before setting off once more, Cyndaquil staying on her shoulder for the moment.

  


Another hour passed before Ruby sat down for lunch.

//Nothing but Rattata and Sentret around here. Not a Hoot Hoot, Heracross or even Caterpie in sight.// Thought Ruby with a frown as she opened the aluminium package around the sandwich her mom had made her. There was 12 of them in total for until she reached Cherrygrove and could get her own supplies, along with a few packages of dry soup, dry meat and veggies, along with several bottles mineral water.

Why did she want a Hoothoot? Simple. The discovery of the Heracross situation had reminded her of a certain episode where Ash and his friends had to pass through a Ghost-type infested forest and needed a Hoothoot. Ash hadn’t caught his Noctowl yet at the time and had to borrow one of them from an older woman.

Aside of that Hoothoot evolved into Noctowl, which was a fairly versatile flying-type and a good choice for early Johto. Not to mention that Noctowl could learn some psychic-type moves, which was naturally great against Monty in Ecruteak City as Ghost-type moves were unable to hit normal-types like Noctowl. Naturally, getting Togepi or Togetic, or would have but they had been turned into Fairy-type Pokemon. They were still valuable against Clair in Blackthorn City.

For that reason her Flying-type choice was Noctowl.

At least her explicit one, as Togekiss was still a rather strong and useful Pokemon with it’s Fairy-type against a certain gym and Champion.

“Should I pick up a Sentret? I haven’t seen any good ones so far and I can’t tell their levels so...” Muttered Ruby, remembering their pick-up ability. It would be handy to have, sure. But Sentret weren’t HM slave material unlike Zigzagoon and Linoone.

It was at that point she heard a rustling noise and, looking up, she spotted a Pokemon that, if nothing else, would give her some muscle. “Hera, Heracross?” Asked the Pokemon, noticing her attention on it. The Heracross species was made of large, Hercules Beetle-like Pokemon with a blue carapace and sturdy body and arms. They were a Bug/Fighting dual type of Pokemon and the Heracross Ash called his own was fairly strong.

“Let’s see what the Pokedex says.” Commented Ruby, bringing up the device that she didn’t exactly use that often other than if she wanted to check on Cyndaquil’s health.

“**Heracross, the Single Horn Pokémon. Though gentle and docile, Heracross possesses great strength and power. Their favorite ****food****is the fresh sap of leafy trees.****Using the sharp claws on its feet, it generates enough power to throw its opponent with amazing force.” **Stated the Pokedex, pretty much to the point in Ruby’s opinion and matching the info she knew.

“Hm… I could try catching you, but this forest is protected by your kind isn’t it?” Muttered Ruby, looking up at the blue insectoid who looked down at her in return, looking somewhat confused by this. Deciding to try her luck, if nothing else a Heracross would be great muscle against Whitney later on for her third badge, she stepped forward.

“Hey, uh, can we talk? I was wondering if you would be willing to join me on my Pokemon Journey. You know? As Pokemon and Trainer?” Asked Ruby, looking up at the Hercules Beetle who looked just a tad confused. “I know that you and your kind live here, helping the Butterfree to get to the sap of these trees. I would like to have you with me, as for one I’m pretty confident in my ability to train you, but I don’t want to force you into it.” She explained and the Heracross cocked it’s head at her.

After a moment the Heracross let itself fall from the tree, landing on it’s feet with a loud thud and turned to her, nodding before going into a fighting pose. “Heh, I take that as a “Sure, but first fight me” right? Alright then, let’s do this Cyndaquil!” Declared Ruby as her Starter jumped from her shoulder to face the Heracross.

She noted that other Heracross and a number of Butterfree and Caterpie were coming out to watch too. Heracross on the other hand opened up the fight by charging at Cyndaquil, his horn glowing as he charged her small mouse Pokemon. “Smokescreen!” Shouted Ruby as her fire-type released the large cloud of black smoke, obscuring the view for both herself and the wild Pokemon as he dodged.

“Ember now!” Shouted Ruby and her small partner fired a stream of fireballs at his opponent, kiting him as Heracross tried to find him. //Heracross is a tough Pokemon, this one’s likely also pretty strong or at least above the standard from the games. Makes some sense, if the power scales like in the games then Pokemon that dwell in the trees are scaled to the level at which you get Headbutt at a minimum. Then again, this isn’t one of the games, so...// Thought Ruby as Heracross tried to hit her agile Starter.

Finally the smoke begun to dissipate and looking in, Ruby saw that her strategy had worked so far. Cyndaquil hadn’t taken any damage so far and while Heracross was tough, his type disadvantage had let her Starter do some impressive damage for his size. “Alright! Another Smokescreen!” Declared Ruby as her Starter dodged another Horn Attack while releasing the smoke into the area.

This may be a cheap trick, but it was effective against any Pokemon that didn’t have the “Keen Eyes” ability. And since Heracross wasn’t gifted in that way, it made this perfect. The smoke, again, confused Heracross to no end while Cyndaquil had no reservations about moving within. It was the advantage of the user. “Get him again with Ember!” Commanded Ruby as her Starter begun to spew fireballs at the bug-type who could be heard grunting in pain.

Suddenly Heracross leaped out of the fog, his wings not strong enough for proper flight but still enough to keep him aloft. Sadly for him, Cyndaquil was a sniper and promptly a barrage of fireballs exploded against the bug-type.

However, Heracross wasn’t deterred and flew in, Cyndaquil’s attack having stopped already. //Just like we trained.// Thought Ruby with a smirk as she heard the crash of Heracross hitting the ground, Cyndaquil having high-tailed it out of that position, before the beetle flew up again, searching.

“Now!” Shouted Ruby just as Heracross realized he had a passenger on his belly who promptly fired up and used ember once again against him, setting him screaming and on fire. As Heracross crashed to the floor Cyndaquil jumped off of him, seeing the bigger Pokemon struggling to stand up. “Alright! Finish him with Tackle!” Commanded Ruby as her Starter dashed forward, ending this charge with ramming the big beetle and sending him careening off into a tree.

“Alright! Pokeball go!” Shouted Ruby, throwing the Pokemon catching device at the dizzy Pokemon which was dissolved into red energy and then sucked in. The Pokeball begun to shake, Ruby watching in anticipation as the Pokeball continued shaking and the button blinking furiously.

Finally, with a click and little stars jumping off the sides, the Pokeball stopped moving. Ruby’s face grew a massive grin as she ran over to the red and white ball, picking it up. “Alright! I’ve caught a Heracross!” She declared, doing her best Ash impersonation in the process, holding out the Pokeball in triumph.

“Cy! Cyndaquil!” Cheered Cyndaquil as well, very much happy to have a new comrade.

That way, Ruby would lament later, the first catch of her life in this world had come and it was quite a rare Pokemon. But only the first of many.


	3. Chapter 3: The Plot Marches On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the harrowing disconnect between expectation and reality, Ruby's journey on Elm's Errand continue, but between entitlement and theft, how much stress will come?

##  _ Chapter 3: The plot marches on _

  


“Ah, man, finally done.” Muttered Ruby as she walked out of Route 29 and into Cherrigrove City.

It had taken her two days to get from Newbark Town into Cherrigrove City, namely due to her being lost for a quarter of a day and the way being long.

“Cyn! Cyndaquil.” Said Ember, her starter. Yes, she had decided to nickname her Pokemon now instead of going by the sometimes rather long names. Cyndaquil was Ember, a move she planned to get upgraded into Flamethrower soon, and Heracross was now Heracles instead.

During the night she had also caught what she had wanted all along, a Hoothoot who she named Cleo. Female, owl-like, no real reason for the name to be honest. Both Cleo and Heracless had recovered from their battles with Ember over the day and had proven quite capable, albeit Heracles seemed the strongest so far, a fact that wasn’t wholly unexpected.

What was unexpected was that, during her journey here, she found a building that was definitely based on the adaptation of the gate house leading north of Route 29 from that one fanfiction she had made ages ago. The building was a restocking and pitstop for Pokemon Trainer traveling the Route,  stocked with healing items such as Potions, Revives and  Pokeballs of all kinds. There were also a few Great Balls stashed in that building.

Entering the local Pokemon Center Ruby set her Pokemon up for treatment and check ups at the nurse’s desk, before walking to the nearby PC and plugging her Pokegear in. She knew that  TMs were a thing, HMs too. They were small USB drives that could be plugged into a Pokegear or Pokedex and listed training and teaching methods for their respective moves.

She had a small collection of empty TM drives, all of them from that supply shack, and was downloading a few. Namely for Flamethrower, Steel Wing, Psychic and Aerial Ace. Those were moves her team could use this early on after all. After a moment she also decided to add  Horn Leech to the list. It wasn’t normally a TM move, but that only held true for TM that could be purchased on the market. There were websites for this stuff.

The move would come in handy due to the fact that Silver was coming eventually, having a Grass-type move would be a great surprise and it was one Heracross could learn.  With this done Ruby heard a small ring from her Pokegear, a signal that nurse Joy was done.

Retrieving her party Ruby thanked the pink-haired nurse before setting off again, heading for  the North where, as her Pokegear confirmed, the path to Mister Pokemon’s home lay. She even made sure to check in with the professor to see if he could give her directions. Thankfully, unlike in the games, Mister Pokemon lived only an hour out from Cherrigrove rather than halfway to Violet City like in the games.

“Well, let’s go and try to get my Pokemon some new moves.” Stated Ruby, putting an earphone in to listen to the explanation on the first move, Flamethrower.

  


As it turns out, Mister Pokemon lived secluded and wasn’t as easy to find as Ruby had imagined.

The Pokegear hadn’t told her where the guy’s house was located but it wasn’t a large area to search north of the city. It still took her two hours to locate the place, one reason for that being that the property lay on a plateau with the road leading to it, as well as the sign saying so, being on the Northern side of the plateau.

By the time Ruby got up there she had Ember already halfway to mastering Flamethrower and Hercles work on Aerial Ace after mastering Horn Leech. He did this alongside Cleo who was learning that move as well while Gama, a Polywag Ruby found and caught, was working on her Watergun move.

“Ugh, finally here.” Muttered Ruby with a groan as she got to the top of the plateau and took a breath. The hike wasn’t so bad, but after searching everywhere for this place and having to walk up the damn path, frustrated her to no end. Which was fair, seeing as this place was almost as bad at the whole “Out of the Way” kind of thing as the game version had been.

“Hey! You got Pokemon!” That shout drew Ruby’s ire as she looked up and saw a boy with a blue cap, blue short pants and a yellow shirt. A “Youngster” in terms of the games, she had been certain there wouldn’t be any around here but then again, that certainty come from the games where they had been stationary.

“Can this wait? I’m here on an errant for professor Elm.” Asked Ruby, exasperated by the idea of having to fight what’s his name and his Rattata.

“Hah! As if I’d fall for that rookie! You’ll have to face me! And let me tell you, you have no chance! My Rattata is the best of the best among all Rattata!” Declared the boy as Ruby felt her eyebrow twitch. This boy was a moron.

“Fine, just don’t cry when your Rattata gets stomped in two seconds flat.” She relented, taking Heracles’ Pokeball from her bag and enlarging it.

“Hah! You’re gonna be the one to be stomped! I’ve already beaten someone today and you’re number 2!” Declared the boy, sending out his Rattata whose most prominent feature seemed to be that it was a bit above average in size.

“Wow, I tremble before your Normal-type.” Muttered Ruby, not in the mood for this as she threw her own Pokeball forward. “Go Heracles!” She declared as from the Pokeball appeared the blue beetle, looking around for a moment before alighting his eyes upon the common rat Pokemon.

“What the hell? What’s that Pokemon?” Asked Joey - let’s call him Joey okay? - as he stared at Heracles who looked massive compared to his Rattata.

“Heracles is a Heracross, a Bug/Fighting-type Pokemon. There’s a huge colony of them at Route 29.” Stated Ruby calmly as she looked at Joey with a raised eyebrow. Heracross wasn’t rare in these parts, strangely enough, why didn’t he know that?

“You’re a liar! There is no Pokemon named Heracross! I should know, I’ve memorized the names of all 150 Pokemon!” Declared the boy proudly and Ruby felt her eyebrow twitch.

“You realize we’re in Johto and that there are 100 indigenous Pokemon in this country alone, on top of the 150 you mentioned.” Stated Ruby, mentally adding that there was also Mewtwo he was even missing one Pokemon as a Genwunner.

“Liar! That must be some mutated Pinsir or something! Just like those weird mutant Pidgey!” Declared the boy as Ruby tried to figure out if he was serious.

“Are you talking about the Hoothoot? Seriously, who taught you this nonsense?” Asked Ruby, seriously wondering how someone could be this ignorant to the local Pokemon when they lived in Johto.

“That’s not nonsense! My dad told me and he attended Pokemon Technical Institute! The best school to become a Pokemon trianer there is!” Declared the boy and Ruby blinked, needing a few seconds to parse this through her mind.

“Wait, Pokemon Technical Institute… Isn’t that this fancy but pretty useless “Graduate here and you can enter the Pokemon League” school in Kanto? How does attending that thing make him great?” Asked Ruby, vaguely remembering both the brochure that her dad had brought back at one point, as well as the memories she had from her original world about researching it for a fanfiction.

“It’s not stupid! Thanks to it my dad got into the Pokemon League and if that cheater hadn’t used some kind of trick he could’ve won! Especially against that stupid boy with the Pekechu or whatever, with that cheating Kingler!” Declared Joey and Ruby frowned, now he was getting on her nerves.

“Pretty sure you’re talking about a trainer who got into the top 16 of the Indigo Plateau, to me it just sounds like you or your father are complaining because you feel entitled to winning without work, and from what I can hear, that comes from your dad. That school doesn’t teach any tangible real-world experiences for Pokemon Battles and if they’re teaching only about 150 Pokemon, then they’re out of date.” Stated Ruby, there was no pity in her mind for entitled parents and entitled kids like that.

“Shut up! My dad is the true champion! The greatest man in the world and he knows everything! For offending him I will beat you into the ground with my greatest Pokemon!” Shouted the, quite frankly, midget as his own Pokemon was sighing in exasperation at his obvious BS. “Take it down with Tackle!” Declared Joey then, his Rattata flinching before complying.

Ruby could already tell that the poor thing was tired, likely from the battle he mentioned earlier. “Let’s make this quick Heracles, Horn Leech!” Declared Ruby as her bug-type’s horn begun to glow green before he rushed forward, stabbing the surprised Pokemon and sending it flying with energy being absorbed by Heracless.

Rattata, predictably, didn’t get up after that. “W- what?! How? No, I know how! You cheated!” Declared the boy as Ruby massaged her temples, trying to stave off the headache.

“No, I didn’t cheat. Your Pokemon just isn’t anywhere near as strong as you thought.” Stated Ruby with no pity in her voice. The boy was being delusional and needed to get his head screwed on right.

“Lies! You’re just another cheater like that boy who cheated my dad out of his champion title! I go to the police!” Shouted the boy, running past her after retrieving his Rattata, crying.

“Great, that’s a post for r/entitledbrats, isn’t it?” Asked Ruby, before blinking, yeah. //Reddit’s a thing in this world huh?// Thought Ruby before shaking her head, this wasn’t really that important, the guy couldn’t really get her in trouble for beating him in a Pokemon battle just because he didn’t like the reality that his Rattata wasn’t OP as hell.

It took her another few minutes but she ultimately reached the home of Mister Pokemon who lived in a large cottage surrounded by a number of paddocks that housed a number of Pokemon native to the region. There were Lediba, Ledian, Sentret, even a couple Heracross and Pinsir. He was a Pokemaniac indeed.

“Hello? Someone home?” Asked Ruby, knocking on the door after she reached the door. “I’m here because of the Egg! Professor Elm asked me to get it!” Called Ruby, knocking again until the door was swung open, a man standing there.

This man was an absolute mess of a Pokemon fanatic. He was dressed in a yellow t-shirt to yellow pants and a yellow, very distinctive hat.

…

Yes, you just guessed right, it’s a Pikachu-themed costume. His shoes are also paw shaped, he has red pain on his cheeks and his shirt has brown stripes on the back with a pikachu tail attached to his pants. The hat was a baseball cap with Pikachu ears and Pikachu face so… yeah.

//What’s with this get-up? He’s, like what? 53 years old? Arceus...// Thought Ruby a bit disturbed by the guy’s behavior.

  


About an hour of Mister Pokemon gushing over her Pokemon and dragging Ruby around, found her finally exit the place, Egg in hand.

She was just putting the egg into her bag when her Pokegear begun to ring.

“Hello? Who’s there?” Asked Ruby after picking up the phone, wondering who it could be.

“_Ruby! Quick get back to the lab! It’s an emergency!”_ Shouted Professor Elm before shutting off the connection which shocked Ruby a bit before it settled in what had happened.

//Silver took Totodile!// Thought Ruby, shaking her head as she quickly put the egg fully into the bag and closed it. “I can’t waste time now, I hope he won’t make it through Route 29 faster than me!” Shouted Ruby, running off South, to intercept the red headed Pokemon thief and son of Giovanni.

//Hopefully it’ll work out!// Thought Ruby with a wince, hoping that Heracles would be sufficient to take out Silver’s Totodile and perhaps even figure some things out.


	4. Chapter 4: Thieves and Entitlement

Ruby wasn’t having a good day.  
“Flamethrower!”  
“CYN!”  
Not at all.  
In the last two hours she had to deal with an entire host of Trainers who, apparently, were friends with the brat who had been so delusional about his Rattata’s amazing power.  
Sadly for him, the local population of brat trainers, 3 Bug Catchers, 4 Youngsters, 3 members of the local Boyscout troop and his girlfriend, who’s a girlscout, wasn’t up to snuff against Pokemon trained by a Champion in the Making.  
Let’s summarize the Pokemon teams.  
Bug Catcher 1: Weedle, 2 Caterpie.  
Youngster 1: Pidgey.  
Youngster 2: Rattata, Spearow.  
Camper Male 1: Nidoran (M), Rattata.  
Bug Catcher 2: 5 Caterpie, Metapod that only knows Harden.  
Camper Male 2: 2 Nidoran (M), Spearow.  
Youngster 3: 3 Rattata, Pidgey, 2 Spearow.  
Bug Catcher 3: Metapod, Kakuna and Butterfree.  
Youngster 4: Rattata… Yeah, nothing else.  
Camper Male 3: Nidoran (M), Pidgey.  
Camper Female: Nidoran (F), Jigglypuff.  
To put it bluntly, the most challenging was the Jigglypuff due to it’s singing, but speed’s still a factor and hearing the name of the Pokemon was enough for Ruby and her team to take it out as quickly as possible.  
Mind you, this was a fairly decent training for her team, if nothing else because they were getting all kinds of combat experience, but it was tiring to be honest, even if they were just small fry really.  
Leaving the newly smoking Jigglypuff and her trainer to scream about cheating and the like, Ruby didn’t care. They all had that weird attitude of thinking they were basically the Elite 4 or something. That the only guy with fully evolved Pokemon was a Bug Catcher should be telling.  
At least she finally reached Cherrigrove City, two hours of, pretty much, picking on almost a dozen mentally disabled brats. “Ugh, I hope they won’t ambush me when I go through next time.” Muttered Ruby as she rubbed her neck, she could almost feel the pain they had been there.  
“Young lady! May I have a second!” Ruby stopped, blinked and then turned around. Who she found there was one of Johto’s Officer Jenny’s, one of two that were stationed in Cherrigrove and which were twins, the cousins of the one in Newbark Town.  
“Ah, yes officer?” She asked, not sure what she wanted from her as she hadn’t even caught enough Pokemon to be fabricated as poaching. //Man, they REALLY look all the same. Then again, everything looks like the Anime but redrawn in the Sun/Moon Anime style.// Thought Ruby as she walked over to the in uniform who was among the more trustworthy people she knew about.  
“Young lady, we received a complaint from a local boy. He gave us a photo of you and claimed that you used a mutated Pokemon of some sort against him.” Stated the woman and Ruby blinked, that sounded oddly-  
“Officer Jenny! Arrest that baka immediately, she cheated!” Ruby cringed as she heard the rumbustious voice of the girlfriend of the first idiot who had said those words.  
Turning around Ruby saw the entire troop of midget trainers, seriously each one of them was a head shorter than her, all glaring at her with the first one in the middle. “Seriously? You’re such a sore loser that you go to the police with your made up charges?” Asked Ruby with a frown as she glared at the whole lot of them.  
“Alright, settle down. Can you please show me your three Pokemon for verification and a Trainer ID?” Asked Officer Jenny, looking at her. Ruby understood, naturally, why she was humoring the brats. She was with the police after all so she had to investigate.  
As such Ruby sent out her Pokemon, they materialized with Ember on Heracles’ shoulder and Cleo landing on his horn. “Here officer, my Starter Ember, the Cyndaquil, as well as Heracles my Heracross and Cleo my Hoothoot. And lastly my Pokedex, which contains my ID.” Stated Ruby, handing over her Pokedex to the woman who nodded.  
“Stop lying! Those are some freak Rattata, mutant Pinsir and a cripple Pidgey!” Argued the lead bully, all of his friends (read cronnies) nodding along.  
Officer Jenny, luckily, didn’t take that shit. “Wrong, these are all well known Pokemon in the Johto Region.” Stated Officer Jenny, frowning at the group. “Furthermore, this Pokedex clearly shows that she has a fully fledged trainer license instead of a provisionary one as you have, or none at all as you claimed.” Stated Jenny and Ruby scowled at the whole lot of them. Now it was getting crazy.  
“Liar! There are only 150 Pokemon and my father has taught me about all of them! There are none that even look like those things!” Shouted the ringleader of the group and I facepalmed at that. “Also, this is Kanto! The great empire that rules these islands! Don’t use that derogatory word those cursed Unovans forced on this area of our great nation!” Demanded the boy and Ruby took a moment to remember what he was talking about.  
Then it snapped into place.  
Like on Earth, there had been two World Wars, the first being mostly centered around Galar and Kalos in Europe. The second World War was, obviously, more involved with more nations. The Empire of Kanto, which had been split later into the five Regions of Hoenn, Johto, Kanto, Sinnoh and Almia, had ended like Japan mostly. Main difference being that, instead of a nuclear weapon, Unova used a pair of altered Ditto transformed into Victini to nuke the local equivalents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki using V-Create.  
//Yeah, that’s not something that comes up in the Anime, did they take some cues from Ashes of the Past or something?// Thought Ruby, deciding to dwell on that later, not now when she has to file a complaint on harassment against them. Not to mention that this idiot was one of those Imperialist idiots who didn’t get that they didn’t have a say in that since Poke-Japan had basically gotten beaten even harder than in prime Earth.  
“Listen here young man, I don’t know what your father thinks but there are over 800 known Pokemon in the world. Also, neither myself nor the law will care about your opinion on how we call this Region because it is Johto whether you like it or not, and it has been home to 100 distinct species of Pokemon that can trace their origins directly to Johto rather than Kanto.” Stated Jenny with a frown as the boy growled at her.  
“Lies Lies Lies! My father attended Pokemon Technical Institute! He’s the greatest and smartest man in the world!” And there was the pointless boast, again.  
“There has never been a single League Winner in the entirety of the Pokemon Leagues History who has come from that school, all of them losing within one or two rounds.” Stated Officer Jenny and Ruby had to note that down, it kind of sounded obvious since those idiots only did the theory and only based on the games rather than doing any real work in the field.  
“Liar!” Screamed the little brat angrily, then stormed off with Jenny after him shortly after him and his friends. Why? False accusation, insulting a police officer, harassment, as well as to confiscate their temporary IDs for Pokemon keeping. They were for kids under 10 who got Pokemon from their parents early.  
Ruby sighed, then turned toward the West of the city, and the Pokemon Center.

A quick heal up later for her Pokemon, saw Ruby heading for the Western border of Cherrigrove City.  
//Unless I missed my cue, Silver should-// Her train of thought was cut short when, as she left the city, someone ran into her.  
“Ugh, idiot get out of my way!” Growled the red head she had run into, glaring at her angrily as Ruby blinked, needing a moment to realize what had happened.  
Silver ran into her. Literally. “What in the- You ran into me, not the other way around!” And that’s when the imprint asserted herself, yelling at the boy with the heat of a small sun. For a certain value of small, she wasn’t overly short for a ten year old.  
Silver, however, sneered. He was the son of a mafia boss so, not surprising. “As if I would apologize when you were the one standing in the way.” Snarled the boy as they both stood up, glaring at each other.  
//God, he’s a prat.// Thought Ruby angrily, then watched him take out a Pokeball. Naturally, he had Totodile with him. “Grr, you want a battle? Fine, I take you on.” She growled, grabbing Heracles’ Pokeball. She was still smart enough to use her foreknowledge against him. And even if he, against expectations, took Chikorita instead she’d still be in the advantage.  
“Totodile go!” Declared Silver then, throwing the Pokeball with the Water Pokemon forward.  
“Let’s go Heracles!” Shouted Ruby, throwing forward her own Pokeball where the two met in the middle, releasing the two Pokemon, the trainer taking their distance from one another and catching the Pokeballs. //As expected of him.// She thought darkly as she glared at the boy who glowered right back.  
“Idiot, choosing a Bug-type.” Growled Silver, clearly dismissing the large beetle for his type which, in Ruby’s opinion, was stupid. “Alright Totodile, Bite!” Commanded Silver as hi Partner, or rather stolen partner, charged forward, obedient as he was.  
“Make it quick with Horn Leech!” Declared Ruby as Heracles caught Totodile before he could bite down on his carapace. He then proceeded to throw the small, blue Pokemon into the air and, with his horn glowing green, hit him as he descended screaming.  
This catapulted the smaller Pokemon right back to Silver’s side, completely drained of energy as the prick took a step back in surprise as Heracles let out a huff, not even strained after all the fighting he had done earlier. “Well, that was short. Did you just pick Totodile up from the lab and haven’t even tried training him yet?” Asked Ruby, playing along with her supposed lack of knowledge on his activities.  
Silver growled, recalling his Pokemon and, without another word, stormed off, pushing past her.  
Ruby glowered at that but was stopped from trying to pursue him when Heracles gave her something he picked up. Looking at it she recognized it as a ID with Silver’s image on it and the name Giovanni Silver written in. So that was a last name?  
“That’s my ID!” Shouted then Silver who she had missed to have run up to her, snatching the ID from her before running off again, cursing himself it seemed.  
“What a shitty attitude.” Muttered Ruby, deciding against pursuing him. He had a headstart as is after all and it wouldn’t do much good to go after him anyway. At least Totodile wouldn’t be in complete shit with him if she managed to beat the ass out of him.  
Naturally, that’s still just a pipe dream, but still.


End file.
